The fight for joy

Man… my heart is foolish. Every now and again I get a little melancholy – a little self-pitying, a bit quieter, more reserved. And usually I’ll dwell in it – thinking of me, losing myself in the feeling, sitting in it.

But I caught myself. I said ‘God – You’re amazing. You are good. You are worthy of everything. I will find joy in You!’

Why that response?

Last week a guy called Andrew Wilson spoke to us during a training week about fighting for joy. And his talk blew me off my feet – in the words of a friend, “I’m going to completely wallpaper my bedroom with this!” What was the gist?

It was this:

God has made it so that what we ought to do and what brings us greatest pleasure in life are one and the same.

John Piper would put it this way:

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

And the bells went off in my head, light bulbs, everything – because I realised this: walking with God is supposed to be joyful. Not tiresomely dutiful. Or hopelessly demanding. Or endlessly exacting. Or wearily burdensome. Not what I’d been experiencing for years.

It means freedom. It means running from sin not because I should, but because I know in the end sin brings misery, and God has joy in store for the righteous. Why would I want misery!? It means the guilt is gone when I don’t do my ‘quiet time’. It means in the morning I get up and open my Bible not to tick a box and breathe a sigh of relief that I’ve started the day ‘right’ (!), but to pursue God and through that, joy. So now why wouldn’t I spend time with God?!

I’m not saying that we only follow after God because it makes us happy. Don’t misquote me – Andrew Wilson didn’t say that. But ultimately loving God, blessing God and doing His will bring us joy, because we’re doing what we were made to do.

This might sound simple to you. You’re saying, “duh! How did you not already have that figured out?” Well, that’s fine. This is the area God needed to work on me in. And I’m glad He’s slowly showing me what pursuing joy in Him means.

That’s all. Awesome sauce.

Wait, what am I DOING?!

Some readers might know that since September I have ended my relationship with education. After fourteen-or-so years, it was obvious the only place we were headed was indebtedness to the government and a greater collection of skills that were yet to be employed in any money-making way.

And so, as hard as it was, I decided to finish studying at the end of my graphics course – for now – and plunge myself into something better.

I’m still delaying the money-making though – salaries are soo over-rated.

So… What are you doing then?

I’m still living in London, but I’m doing something that’s called ‘FP’, or ‘Impact’ (or any combination of the two). It’s a year-long training program run by New Frontiers, where I intern with a New Frontiers church (eg. my church) and get a week of Bible teaching every month in the mix. It’s awesome.

What does that entail?

So my Bible training consists of a whole load of teaching by guest speakers… NT and OT history, the doctrine of creation/Holy Spirit/God/scripture/Christ…. etc. I haven’t memorised all of them. Additionally,there are assignments to complete every month.

On the other side of things, my internship at Revelation Church encompasses two roles – ‘design/media/creative’ person and ‘kids outreach’ person. The first one is pretty self-explanatory – it involves lots of pretty things on computers – but the second less so. In short: our church is surrounded by estates full of kids who don’t know Jesus, and every week we run an awesome kidswork/Sunday school all about Jesus. Basically, my job is to get the former to the latter. With a little help from my friends.

Anything else I should know?

Yes – I’m moving! For the last two years my parents have graciously up-sized their abode in London to make space for me, and I am eternally grateful. However, it now feels time to move out again and let them downsize, so a couple church friends and I are searching for a place…

But not just any place! Nope, we’re looking for somewhere on a particular estate that a group from church have been visiting every week to do youth outreach. To potentially have a bigger impact there, three of us have decided that moving onto the estate will help us massively in developing relationships with those who live there – all for the Kingdom.

That’s all for now!

I hope it all made sense – you can always get in touch if you need to know more.

Claudia & Stuart: Wedding Part 1

I have yet to experience a more fun, relaxed wedding than Claudia and Stuart’s – they were brilliant with all the details and created such an honest-to-goodness beautiful and warm wedding day.

When Claudia’s mother first saw her, the reaction was beautiful – there were definitely some tears fighting to come out!

If Claudia and Stuart were to be known for anything, it has to be praying and singing – both sing in a choir, and both love Jesus. An awesome combination.

This was neither the first nor the last time that Stuart sent a cheeky look my way!

After the ceremony we headed out to do some family portraits before having ‘Kaffee und Kuchen’ with all the guests. All that to come soon in part two!

Claudia & Stuart: Engagement

Throughout the day rain had fallen intermittently and threatened to add complications to the day’s shoot. In the afternoon, however, Claudia confirmed that it was on – same place, same time – optimistic that the small peaks of sun through the clouds were signs of a brighter evening. And she proved to be right.

We headed up to Primrose Hill and scouted out a few places and got shooting. Here’s a look at some of the fun we had up there.

Now, the thing about Stuart is that he’s got amazing teeth – and he’s not afraid to show them off! I got some of the best smiles I’ve ever seen from the man, and you could tell he was pleased as punch to have Claudia. By the end of the evening, he had begun to perfect a ‘Blue Steel’-esque look though, and proved to be its master by the wedding…

 

Awesome couple that they are, Claudia and Stuart were up for a bit of experimentation – even pulling off some amazing lifts (good back work, Stuart!).

Thanks for being such great, patient people – and being so willing to laugh at all the crazy things I was suggesting – and going ahead with them anyway!

Coming soon – the wedding.

Debra and Lloyd: wedding preparation

So I’ve had the incredible luck of being asked by Debra – my friend, one-time housemate and ‘spesh’ sofa-faller-offer – to take her wedding prep photographs. An absolute privilege, and in no time I had my trip booked and the day before the wedding saw me boarding a coach and sitting down in my seat… only to realise that my dress was not with me, as it should have been, but somehow I had overlooked it in the last scan of my bedroom (to check I wouldn’t forget anything!) and it was still hanging on the front of my wardrobe.

However, forgiving and most-chilled-out person that she is, Debra rearranged the planned-to-the-second timetable to allow extra time for me to search high and low in Bristol’s town centre for another one. You amaze me, sis!

Anyway, the Saturday arrived and I got up bright and early and met Debra and the rest of her amazing bridal party for a few hours of prep and then a longer time of photographing fun. Woohoo! So here’s some of the shots from that day:

It was very much a family affair – Debra’s brother was there to help out, and he definitely pulled his weight! When it came to making sure the dress would stay up on a branch, he was more than happy to climb the tree and hold it steady. Legend.

Absolutely loved working with Debra and all the bridesmaids – who were absolutely fine with making crazy faces. The bonus was that they were also really good at it!

Have to say, the detail on the dress was stunning – hey, the whole dress was stunning! – and Debra pulled it off like no other woman could!

Thanks for having me along and letting me shoot your wedding morning – can’t wait to see how the rest of life turns out for you and Lloyd!